UGA #1 USA Today Poll

[Raven_tiger 5]

Maybe this will change how some people, me included, view the excessive celebration in last year's UGA-UF game.

Mark Richt

ATHENS, Ga. — Just before Vince Dooley, then Georgia's athletics director, offered Mark Richt the head football coaching job after the 2000 season, he spoke with Florida State coach Bobby Bowden. Richt had spent 15 seasons with Bowden's Seminoles, primarily as offensive coordinator.

"The one thing that worries me about him is he's too nice," Bowden told Dooley. Seven seasons later, Richt is still as nice but also has won nearly 80% of his games, becoming one of only nine coaches in major-college history to record 70 or more wins in his first seven seasons. He also restored the glory, glory to old Georgia, as the fight song goes, winning two Southeastern Conference championships.

Now Richt, 48, has the Bulldogs ranked No. 1 in the preseason USA TODAY Coaches' Poll, which raises the question: Can nice guys finish first?

SURVEY: What team should start the season at No. 1?

USA TODAY TOP 25: Final coaches' poll for 2007

"Absolutely they can," says former coach Dooley, whose 1980 team won Georgia's last national title.

Bowden, Richt's mentor, also agrees. "Because he is very nice, I wondered if he'd be tough enough to be the head coach when everyone's jumping down your throat. We have found out he has an inner toughness that makes him able to handle it," says Bowden, who has managed to be both the winningest coach in major-college history and everyone's favorite dadgum nice guy.

Georgia returns 16 starters from last year's 11-2 team, which finished No. 3 in the coaches' poll, which is why the Bulldogs faithful has never been more excited about a season. "I think it's more than I have ever seen," says Dooley, who was head coach for a quarter century, from 1963 to 1988, and athletics director from 1974 to 2004. "I've seen as much expectations with a player like Herschel Walker during his freshman year, but not with a team."

That's significant, given how passionate Georgia fans are. After all, this is a place where the school mascot is more beloved than the family pet. A month ago, when the school held a solemn memorial service at Sanford Stadium for Uga VI, who died from congestive heart failure in June, the chaplain closed the ceremony with these immortal words: "Sic 'em Uga. Woof! Woof! Amen." The English bulldog was then buried in a marble vault in a corner of the stadium with his five predecessors. Georgia fans left tribute messages on Uga VI's Facebook page. Bulldog Nation now turns to Uga VII to usher in a new era of expectations.

Ah, yes, expectations. "People started talking national championship after the Sugar Bowl last year," Richt says. "That's too long to be chewing on that bone, so to speak. … I told the players that this preseason hype could be a blessing or a curse. It's a curse if you think it gives you a sense of entitlement to where you think you don't have to prepare. It could be a blessing if you look at it as one of the greatest opportunities of your life."

Says defensive end Roderick Battle, "After watching a good movie, everyone is waiting for the second one to come out."

Stoicism buried in the hedges

Last fall, Georgia turned around its season after a 35-14 loss to Tennessee on Oct. 6. "Tennessee kicked our butts," Richt says. "When I looked for what was the problem, I looked in the mirror. (The players) were pretty much doing what I was doing — sitting, waiting for something to happen. So I thought maybe I needed to change."

Given his years as an offensive play-caller, Richt's sideline demeanor at Georgia was as even as the hedges around the field. "Calm, peaceful and deliberate," Richt says. He couldn't get outwardly excited because he needed to focus on making decisions. But at the start of last season, Richt handed over play-calling to offensive coordinator Mike Bobo.

At first, Richt didn't know how to act. The Tennessee loss helped him realize that being stoic wasn't the answer.

The next week, the Bulldogs came from behind to beat Vanderbilt. Then they faced rival Florida. Richt knew his team needed to show more enthusiasm. "Even if we got to fake it, we're going to have more energy," he told his players. "After the first score against Florida, I want you guys to celebrate so hard that the referees throw the flag."

Richt had only intended for the 11 players on the field to celebrate. But when Georgia scored its first TD, a sideline-clearing celebration ensued. "I watched them let it go," he says. The Bulldogs won 42-30 and the celebration became the season's defining moment.

Though much was made of Richt's transformation, it wasn't exactly no more Mr. Nice Guy. The next day Richt called Florida coach Urban Meyer to apologize. He's spent much of the offseason expressing his regret. "I won't do anything like that again. It could have easily turned into a big stupid brawl," he said at the Southeastern Conference news media days last week.

Two weeks after beating the Gators, Richt surprised the team just minutes before the Auburn game by allowing them to wear black jerseys in the team's "Black Out" game, a 45-20 victory.

Says Richt, "I'm not so stubborn that I'm not open to change."

Those who know him best chuckle at the notion of an extreme makeover. "People would say, 'Oh my gosh, he's changed,' and I'd say, 'No he hasn't.' At home he's pretty goofy, pretty fun. It's just about him finding his role now," says his wife, Katharyn.

Still, she was surprised when, at the end of the Florida game, Richt fell into the arms of the team's water girl and planted a kiss on her lips, which was seen on national TV. Bulldog Nation probably wondered: Who body-snatched our coach? And why is he making out with the water girl?

Well, he's married to her. Katharyn works on the sideline during games. "She can pour two cups, know that it's a first down and 9 and where the ball is, and pass out cups at the same time," cornerback Asher Allen says. "She's literally the team mom."

"I tried to be quiet at first but I had to yell encouragement. I couldn't help it," she says of her high-volume cheers.

Keepin' it real in real world

The fact that life now is exceedingly normal is a blessing given Katharyn was diagnosed with cervical cancer in the spring of 2006. Complications after a radical hysterectomy made the situation more frightening. "I didn't handle it all well. I got numb," Mark Richt says. Only until the water girl was back on the sidelines and cancer-free did everyone exhale.

The Richts have four children: Jonathan, 18, a freshman quarterback at Clemson; David, 13; Zach, 12; and Anya, 11. The Richts adopted the youngest two from an orphanage in Ukraine in 1999, a decision guided by their religious faith.

The Richts also have taken their children on mission trips, most recently to Honduras last year. That experience prompted Richt to organize an NCAA-approved, five-day trip with two dozen of his players in May. The players delivered water to residents of poverty-stricken Guaimaca in Honduras, repaired fences, dug ditches and footers for houses, shared their Christian faith if so inclined and learned a little about the world.

"It helped us realize how privileged we are and sometimes don't appreciate the blessings we do have," Battle says.

Two days after Richt returned from Honduras, he joined four other college coaches visiting U.S. military bases during a week-long trip to the Middle East. "We tried to encourage everyone, but we left encouraged," Richt says.

The Georgia and SEC fans overseas asked the same questions Richt hears at Bulldogs clubs. Will you put Knowshon Moreno and Caleb King in the same backfield? How does quarterback Matthew Stafford look? Is the offensive line going to be better? Who's your kicker? Can the team weather one of the most challenging schedules in the country?

In for the long haul in Athens?

This offseason, Richt faced different questions. Seven players have been arrested, including backup defensive end Michael Lemon, who was charged with aggravated assault, a felony, after a fight at an off-campus apartment. He was dismissed from the team. Richt says preseason hype has not affected team discipline.

Says Dooley: "It seems like it goes in cycles and in bunches, and I think it's historically gone from one school to the other as being the school with the most problems. … As nice as he is, they know they can't get away with everything. He's made some tough discipline decisions, and that speaks volumes."

As for those concerns Bowden and Dooley had back when he was hired? Dooley says those were erased when he saw Richt chew out a receiver who didn't go for the ball during one of the early practices in his first camp.

As Georgia heads into this season of great expectations, Dooley shakes his head and wonders what if, considering Richt first turned down the job. "He absolutely had cold feet," he says. "I told him if he changed his mind, make sure you call me first thing in the morning. … He didn't call me at 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning; he called me at 2 or 3 in the morning, and he said yes."

The days of coaching at one school for a long time, like Dooley or Bowden, seem gone. But Dooley thinks Richt could be the exception: "He has the best chance of anybody in this day and time of staying at one place because of his production and type of person he is. But you need both."

After all, it's fine to be nice, but you also must finish first.

Contributing: Andy Gardiner

[AUBURNJAC 53]

I never had a problem with what Richt did during the UF game. I know there are arguments on both sides of the fence, but I really think this article should clear that up. I think Coach Richt is a great coach. If you ask me, he and Tommy Tuberville are the cream of the crop in the SEC, and probably both could be considered top ten coaches in the country.

I do however look forward to kicking some bulldog ass in November!

[tiger88 934]

Thta celebration has added an entirely new dimension to the uga/uf game which will be even better because both teams are so good right now.

[DKW 86 7,437]

Does anyone really have problem with Richt? He is a great coach, recruiter and an even better human being. My son could play for him. I still would RATHER he play for CTT, but CMR would be a great second option.

[SouthLink02 8]

We won! We won! We won the Pre-Season NC!

[Defense(clap clap) 4]

FAKE JUICE!